A Moment of Truth
by timboslice
Summary: [AU] When there is no war to be fought, they would go on the live their lives. James Potter was on the verge of starting his career as a Professional Quidditch player while Lily Evans was to be a healer. Careers split them apart, but when things turned out to be worse than expected, is there a moment of truth when they realize that they need each other and bring them back together?


**Hello there, TimboSlice here! This is my first story, an AU story about James and Lily. Hope you enjoy it! Note I don't own anything you recognize here. Well, here we go!**

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 **Chapter 1: Beginning of a New Journey**

July 1st, 1978, 7:58 pm.

Sitting inside the Muggle concert hall, Royal Albert Hall, with his parents and 3 of his best friends, James Potter cannot believe what was just about to happen. Honestly, it's not like he hasn't been expecting this, nor had there been any doubt that his will be the first name called onto the stage. Despite these expectations, the recent Hogwarts graduate cannot be more nervous.

7:59 pm.

 _What is taking so long?_ Thought James. He cannot stop glancing down at his watch. His left leg is shaking with anticipation, feeling the agony of the wait. Patience has never been his strong suit, so why start now?

 _This is probably the most nervous I have ever been in my lif…Wait, no…I was more nervous that other day waiting to take her out, right? Speaking of which, if only she is still here… Will she be proud of me? Or will she still think this is unrealistic? Ooh, how I miss her beautiful emerald eyes and her hair, oh that hair…_

8:00 pm.

The legendary Montrose Magpies Hamish MacFarlan, long time Commissioner of the British and Irish Quidditch League and the current Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports, appeared onto the stage. Immediately, the hall quieted down; so quieted, the breathing sounds of each and everyone in the room sounded quite deafening.

"Good evening everyone and welcome to the 1978 British and Irish Quidditch League Draft! My name is…" As the league Commissioner continued on with his introductory speech, James can't help but tune out; the only thing he was able to focus on was his nerves. His breaths were uneven, sweat starting to drip down his forehand, and his trademark untidy raven locks were even more of a mess. If you were to tell anyone from Hogwarts that James Potter, _THE James Potter_ , the charming, confident, Head Boy slash Quidditch star slash Marauder is nervous about attention, well, people might call you crazy.

"…retire at the end of this season. Now onto the selections. The Montrose Magpies will have the first selection of this year's draft."

The Montrose Magpies, the most successful Quidditch franchise in the history of the League, have fallen to mediocrity even since the start of the 70s. Despite being under the leadership of their legendary Captain and Chaser Fabius Watkins, the Magpies were going down an inevitable decline. Things only got worse in 1975 when Watkins died from a collision with a helicopter. The death of Watkins immediately plummeted the Magpies. At age 35, Watkins was able to sustain a relatively high level of play, finishing 3rd in goals scored, helping his team to a 5th place finished. The next season, however, the Magpies played without their Captain and were embarrassingly beaten by their most of their opponents throughout the season, finishing with a 9-24 record in a 35-game season. (from the last Saturday of September to the late May, not including playoffs). The top overall pick next season, Chaser Clinton Bradford out of the Academy of Broom Flying did little to nothing to help. Instead, Bradford's arrogance and bigheadedness have been causing problems for the organization ever since. The Magpies Organization, for reasons unknown to anyone, decided to build their next dynasty around Bradford, thus trading away those who can't get along with the Chaser and signing only those who Bradford wanted, as if he were the owner of the organization. Within 2 years, the less than talented Bradford has turned the once dominant franchise into the laughing stock of the Quidditch world. Coming into the 1978 draft, the Montrose Magpies finished with the worst record in League history, 2-33, and once again, rightfully so, obtained the first overall selection.

As James was dreadfully waiting for the selection to be announced, the color commentators and the host of the selection telecast wasted no time analyzing and predicting who the Magpies would be taking. Somehow, to everyone _BUT_ James, the decision was easy.

"Dave, now Montrose has the first pick again, second time in 3 years. That last one certainly did not work out for 'em." said the host, Colbert Johnson

"That's right, CJ. In the '76 draft, they took Clinton Bradford number 1, who played decently last season, averaging nearly 150 points per game on 40 % shooting. That means he took quite a bit of shots." Dave Manning, former Chaser of the Appleby Arrows, replied.

"Now, I was under the impression that Bradford tried to lead the team by example, at least on the scoring end, because, well let's be honest Montrose doesn't really have many talents on their roster." said Johnson.

"Perhaps, you know CJ. I'm not exactly sure what this kid is trying to do. Is he a decent player? Of course, he wouldn't play in the league otherwise. But is he a great player? No, he is not. He is not making his teammates better. If you look at how many shots he takes, and he's whole scoring first mentality? Montrose is not going to be good for the next few years that's for sure." Said Manning.

Nodding his head, Johnson turned to Hall of Fame Seeker of the Tutshill Tornados, Roderick Plumpton ,who at the age 89 still knows exactly what he is talking about when it comes to this sport. "What are your thoughts on Montrose's future, Rick?"

Plumpton pushed up his glasses, rubbed his chin a bit then answered. "Well, Dave is certainly right. This kid Bradford does need to learn on distributing the Quaffle, but I'll say this one thing though, the Magpies need talents. Seeing as they haven't been landing any significant free agents the past summers, thank Merlin they got this pick."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, it is quite obvious who is going number 1 here. James Potter out of Hogwarts is by far the most talented player in this draft, and mind you, this year has many talented Chasers."

As the commentators started talking about James, the video screen right next to the host table started playing a highlight video of James' time on the Gryffindor team.

"As you can see here," Plumpton continued, "he sorts of reminded me of a young but more athletic, the late great Fabius Watkins. Anyways, this play here, note that Potter played the two most of his career, but that doesn't mean he's just a scorer. A beautiful assist – behind the back pass to his teammate, who was already setting up for the Finbourgh Flick – on a three on one break away… Well of course Watkins was a better passer than Potter is, but in a few years, we can expect this kid to be an all-star caliber player, if he continues to develop that is."

As the commentators continued to discuss the James' potential and how obvious it is that he would be the top draft pick, the Chaser was getting more and more nervous as the clock ticked down. When James was just on the verge of start hyperventilating, the most dreadful 3 minutes of James' life were over as the commissioner walked back out to the stage.

"With the first selection of the 1978 draft, the Montrose Magpies select…

 _ **James Potter, Chaser, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**_."

He made it! He is going to play professional Quidditch! It has been his dream since he first picked up a broomstick at 5 years old. Now 13 years later, the unreachable dream has come true!

The rest of the night went extremely blurry and fuzzy; the only thing he remembered was shaking hands with many different people and signing autographs for little kids as well as countless pictures being taken.

 _Is this what it's like to be a professional athlete? I haven't even played one match yet! The last match I played was…when was the last match I played? Oh, right! The final against Ravenclaw! That was a good one, what a way to go out…Speaking of going out, wonder if she's going out with anyone now? Are there any guys in her healer's program? I hope not... Nobody good enough for her anyway… I really miss going out with her on our date nights, and hanging out in the Head's dorm, and snuggling, and snogging, and her smile, and her laugh, and her eyes, oh man her eyes…_

His new journey is just about to begin, if only she could be there by his side…

James, in the mist of spotlights and fans, can't help but to think about one particular fiery red head that is currently missing in his life.

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 **Dear Miss Evans,**

 **I am delighted to inform you that you have been accepted into the** **St. Mungo's School for Magical Maladies and Injuries…**

… **three years. You are required to attend an orientation session on the 1** **st** **of August prior to the beginning of your term in September…**

Lily Evans, recent graduate of Hogwarts, was going through her posts the morning of July 2nd when she found this letter from St. Mungo's. Needless to say, Lily was thrilled. It has been a dream of hers to become a healer ever since she arrived at Hogwarts. Now that the dream is coming true!

Flipping through her posts, she found the paper she was looking for. Sure enough, on the front page of the Daily Prophets, the headline read: **James Potter, Star Chaser of Hogwarts Selected First Overall**.

So his dream is also coming true…Lily looked down to the picture of him on the front page of the page, it was _her Jamie_ smiling on the stage, putting the Magpies cap on and holding up the jersey. Guess she needs to go shopping for some sports apparel now… She slowly stroked her thumb over his cheek in the picture, a sense of pride and joy filled her chest. How can she be more proud of this arrogant toerag of hers? Chuckled at that nickname, she felt moisture slowly forming in her eyes. Not wanting to let them fall, Lily blinked rapidly a few times, then put down the paper, went on with her morning routine.

Since it was a Saturday, Lily decided that she wasn't going to change out of her sleeping attires or leaving her apartment in London for that matter. It has become her habit, ever since the beginning of her 7th year, to wear this Gryffindor Quidditch practice jersey to bed. It was significantly larger than her petite frame, so was able to cover her all the way down to just below her hip. There was a C on the left chest area, while on the back a golden number 7 and the name Potter were visible on that jersey. He explained to her why he wore number 7 once; to him, it's an upside down L, which serves as a reminder of her every time he goes out onto the pitch. Recalling his obscure logics he used to seemingly relate everything back to her, Lily continued to grin. That smile on her beautiful face did not come off till the next morning.

Lily spent the entire day reminiscing about her days at school as well as that one particular dark hair Quidditch boy. Now that they are both moving onto their future, will they see each other again? If so, when?

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 ***AN Here***

 **So this is the first chapter of my first story, hope you like it. Feel free to leave a comment!**

 **A few things I want to go over before I get questions.**

 **I do realize that drafts are not usual is European sports, but since Quidditch is played in school, I think it makes more sense to have a draft. It's kinda like the NCAA type deal where players play for their schools and then get drafted into pro leagues.**

 **The Professional Quidditch season I have in mind is a 35 games season that always play on Saturdays, every Saturday at either 1pm or 7pm. In turns of stats, I am basing it off basketball where you have points, assists, steals, blocks (for keepers), hits (actual hits for beaters), swings (how many swings you take, again for beaters), catches (for seekers); then there's the per game averages and the percentages for these categories.**

 **My Quidditch positions are as followed. Three chasers, left wing (aka the Three) primary known for defense, center (aka the Two) known for scoring, right wing (aka the One) is the play maker. Four and Five are our beaters, offensive (known for covering on offense) and defensive (known to stop break away offensive situations/primary for defensive situations) respectively. The Six is the Seeker while the Keeper is called the Zero. When I say these positions are known for a certain thing, I mean traditionally, but of course, great players are capable of doing many different things.**

 **Until Next Time, TimboSlice, Signing Off!**


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